Re: Seeing
red

: : : : : : : : At A
recent tutorial the speaker was chastised by a member of the study group for using
the phrase"Black Mark" as it was thought that this phrase had racist conotations.
Can any one tell me the history of this phrase ??

: : : : : : : I don't think
so. It was it the British radio programme 'Take It From Here' with Jimmy Edwards
and June Whitfield. - "Black Mark, Bentley.' I doubt if it is meant to be racist.

:
: : : : : When you talk out of turn in class, the teacher puts a black mark (pencil
lead is black or dark gray) beside your name in the grade book. That's all the
history I know. I couldn't find the phrase in any of my references.

: : : :
: The color black had long been associated with darkness and evil--witches and
their black cats, the bad guys' hats in cowboy movies, Darth Vader and the Dark
Side of the Force etc.
: : : : : Blackmail? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe someone
knows the whole nine on blackmail.
: : : : : But then again how about the phrase
"in the black" which has positive aspects accounting-wise.
: : : : : Go figure!

:
: : : Whereas racism is of course utterly contemptible, there's a growing trend
on both sides of the Atlantic towards overly zealous political correctness in
language - people are so desperate not to offend or be seen as prejudiced in any
way that they're busily castrating the English language. When I was at school,
and got bad grades on certain work, my teachers as standard used to mark them
in black ink - and similarly good grades in red ink. There's no racial implication
at all. I've heard similar fanaticism directed at blackmail, blackguard, nitty-gritty
(see previous discussion in the archives) and most shocking of all was the instance
of the American politician or lawyer - I forget which - who was forced into resigning
for using the word "niggardly" to describe some budget proposal.

: : : : Sometimes
you just have to despair...

: : :
: : : Surely you aren't suggesting you
ever got a bad grade?

: :
: : In the US, errors are marked in red. I had
a teacher once who threatened to make our papers "bleed".

: And nobody but a
teacher could have a red pen.

The original query is a prime example of PC-itis
taken to the extreme. So, the Black Forest should be renamed the 'Woodland of
the Native Germanic Peoples?' How should 'Black Forest Gateau' be described on
a menu? Every geography book would have to be re-written to change the 'Black
Sea' to 'The Totally-light-absorbant Sea!' Jaysus!!